Death Penalty Digest

At the end of each day, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I receive an email aggregating every media article which includes the words ‘death penalty.’ The articles hail from all over the place - Thailand to Texas, China to California - and include the fascinating, the brilliant, the poorly written and the downright bizarre. Obviously not many people who aren’t me would want a daily brief full of several hundred emails about the death penalty. So, I’ve done the hard work for you and here is a round-up of some of the best and/or most interesting articles, complete with handy links so you can continue reading to your human rights-concerned heart’s content, should you so wish. If nothing else this plethora of articles serves as a sad reminder of how much work there is to do.

First, to South East Asia:

Two journalists from Aussie-daily The Age think that the request of Indonesian prosecutors to give Australian alleged drug smuggler, Michael Sacatides a 15 year sentence rather than the death penalty is symbolic of a shift in attitudes by the powers that be in the country.

In Singapore while Briton Alan Shadrake, who risks jail in the country because he dared to criticise their death penalty policy in his book, ‘Once a Jolly Hangman, continues to pursue his appeals and stir up controversy…

…Another man has had his death sentence reduced.

Next, to the USA:

In Hartford, Connecticut, following in the footsteps of Illinois, a crucial vote on the repeal of the death penalty is going through the state legislature. Some fear mongering which, if it weren’t so dangerous would be hilarious, came courtesy of Republican Senator John Kissel. On the possibility of repeal, says: "After a month or two they'll be in the general population. They'll be able to earn money, and have recreation time, so I think the death penalty is appropriate for the most heinous crimes.” Err, no.

Long time anti-death penalty campaigner, friend of the incarcerated (and the famous), movie inspiration and all-round ninja Sister Helen Prejean, spoke at the University of Tennessee’s Human Rights Week.  And, ahead of another speaking engagement in Boston she gave an interview on her work.

And, sadly, another long time anti-death penalty campaigner passed away. Marie Deans, who started Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and assisted on many capital cases, passed away in Virginia.

As Reprieve works to prevent the export of drugs from around the world to US death penalty states, South Dakota has obtained Sodium Thipoental at a cost of $5,000 for 5 grams just to make sure that they can kill two of the three people on their death row when the time comes. No one knows, however, where the drugs were obtained from.

In these tricky economic times, legislators in Nevada are reassessing the death penalty on the grounds – supported, I should say, by a great deal of evidence – that it is far more costly than sentencing people to life in prison. Not quite the moral high ground one might hope for when it comes to life and death but still, we’ll take it. Do you live in Nevada and care about the death penalty? If so, get in touch with your state representatives and show support for AB501. Yet more false information from opponents of the bill who say that the death penalty is applied exclusively to ‘the worst of the worst’ when as we know it is applied to whoever, often for political reasons, the elected district attorney or judge, decides to apply it to.

Two fantastic articles about the truly devastating (and, quite frankly, rage-inducing) case of John Thompson appeared this week after the US Supreme Court decided that even though evidence, that would have proven Thompson’s innocence of a 1985 murder conviction, for which he spent the best part of his adulthood on death row, wasn’t turned over to the defence by the District Attorney’s office at the time, he didn’t deserve compensation and the DA’s office didn’t deserve prosecution: One incredibly moving and personal article came from the man himself and the other, a damning indictment of the ‘meanness’ of Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion, comes via the great Dahlia Lithwick at Slate.

Grass roots, local campaigners all too often go unnoticed, which makes efforts by protestors in Ohio, horrified by the fact that their state plans to kill one person a month between now and October, even more heroic. They protested the killings outside the Lucas County Courthouse.

Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma signed into law legislation that has broadened the language about what drugs can be used in executions, meaning that Pentobarbital can now be used.

Bad news from New Mexico where New Governor, Susana Martinez, said in as an after-thought at the end of an interview: “And the death penalty, I’d like to bring back the death penalty.” Her nonchalance is the most shocking, like I might say, “And France, I’d like to go to France.” Except hers involves killing people slowly and deliberately. And in nothing like the pretty surroundings of France.

And so, to Africa:

It was the bill that shocked the world. An anti-gay bill from Uganda that proposed giving the death penalty to homosexuals, is being debated again in Parliament; there is a very extensive article on it.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague publicly slammed Iran for their “excessive use of the death penalty” as the EU imposed sanctions on 22 officials from the country in an attempt to curb their flagrant abuses of human rights. Good to know where Hague stands and that we can expect more support from him in opposition to the death penalty in the future, then.

And, finally, the most unusual pop-up of late goes to the Mangalore.com, which is, apparently ‘Where Mangaloreans meet.’ Who knew? Anyway, according to the paper two people there were shot dead by Maoist guerrillas just after they were given the death penalty.

Are there any issues on which you would like to read a fuller blog piece? Let us know!